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Friday, 26 March 2010

Canna jaegeriana Urb.

A giant species; green foliage, very large, oblong shaped, arching habit; triangular stems, coloured green; spikes of flowers are bell-shaped, self-coloured yellow-orange, staminodes are long and narrow, partial self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not known if true to type, self-pollinating, capsules round; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and pink; tillering is average.A giant wild species, first identified by Ignatz Urban, that is difficult to grow in northern climates, but which rewards successful husbandry with its giant green leaves, lower side and sheaths more or less lanuginose, and topped by yellow-orange flowers and yellowish-green fruits.This is a wild species that has not adapted to a temperate climate and its winters. It is used to growing 52 weeks of the year and if you cannot bring it indoors over the winter to continue growing there, then it is pointless trying to treat it like a cultivar, as it will not survive such treatment.Synonyms are C. domingensis Urb., C. leucocarpa Bouché, C. pertusa Urb.